The present invention relates to a textile treatment composition, methods of treating textiles and to textiles which have been treated. Compositions and methods of the present invention are especially suitable to impart stain resist properties to textiles such as wool, cotton and nylon, but the invention is not limited thereto.
Various processes exist for the treatment of textiles to impart some stain resist qualities thereto. These processes have limited effectiveness with some textiles such as wool. For example, fluorocarbons are used to provide oil and water repellancy to textiles such as fabrics, furnishings, carpets and clothing. The fluorocarbon prevents wetting of the textile thus minimizing contact between the textile and the foreign substance. However such treatment does not impart stain resist properties to the textile and such an approach offers little protection to the textile where the foreign substance is a substance such as F D & C Red 40, an acid dye commonly added to food and beverages. Such treatment is also non-durable and wears off quickly. Some processes exist that are suitable to treat nylon, for example nylon carpets, however it has been found that these treatments are unsuitable to treat wool, for example wool carpets.
It is known that wool fibre material can be treated with sulphonated compounds so as to protect the material against soiling by oily foods or aqueous beverages which have been dyed with synthetic dyes such as F D & C Red 40. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,812 and 4,857,392. However, the stain resisting effect is inadequate.
It is also widely known that the lack of durability of stain resist finishes of nylon carpets is such that it does not allow the use in commercial installations.
European Patent Application 267681 discloses a method for providing fibrous polyamide materials with stain resistance comprising contacting the fibrous polyamide materials with aqueous solution comprising a normally solid, water-soluble, partially sulphonated resin, which comprises the condensation product of at least one phenolic compound and an aldehyde, and a water-soluble divalent metal salt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,940 discloses a process for imparting stain resistance to a carpet having a pile made of nylon yarn comprising immersing the carpet in an aqueous solution of a selected phenol-formaldehyde condensation product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,591 discloses an improvement in certain processes for continuously dyeing polyamide carpets whereby stain resistance is imparted to the carpets during the dyeing process. The improvement comprises adding an alkali metal silicate and a sulphonated phenol-formaldehyde condensation product to the dye liquor used in the dyeing process.
European Patent Application 235 989 discloses an improvement in a process for applying sulphonated naphthol- or sulphonated phenol-formaldehyde condensation products to polyamide textile articles to render them stain resistant, the improvement comprising applying the condensation products at a pH of between 1.5 and 2.5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,757 discloses a stain resistant composition which is prepared by polymerizing an .alpha.-substituted acrylic acid in the presence of a sulphonated aromatic formaldehyde condensation polymer.